Yikes

If the photos of the animals covered by BP oil don't make you cringe not much will.

What I've been doing

What is new with me you ask. Nothing I say! Got back from my 8 day camp trip with "special" kids. Wasn't too bad of a trip. It only rained once and despite not sleeping in a tent I only got slightly wet. Kids weren't too bad considering. The worst that happened was the boys peeing on each others things before bed. It is so odd, if someone had peed on my things at any time in my life I would have been bordering on rage. However, these guys found it funny. Not fun though laying in bed hearing the sound of pee and wondering if you should do the responsible thing and check on the boys... I didn't.

On the "Where in the World is Danny Mitchell?" front. Well, I've decided to head back to the Great White North come the end of December. If I can work it I might stay till late January to soak up a little sun, but we'll see.

Soccer is still going desperately bad. Presently I am sitting out a one game suspension because of a tete-a-tete with some jackass. This made the kids very happy at school.

Things I like this week
Saw a friend win $50 on the VLT machine, so I put in $1 and won myself $95.

The Toronto Blue Jays appear to continue to play respectively.

I won this weeks Footy tipping pool at school. You wouldn't know it from this week, but I don't even gamble.

Things I Don't Like This Week

The pain in both my knees just doesn't seem to go away. I can't lift my legs up while sitting in a chair and straighten them.

Like everyone else, the continuous oil leak. That is a lot of fossil fuels leaking up to the surface

That every weekend isn't a long weekend. How the world would be a better place with 4 days on and three days off.

A Quiet Chuckle

"Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost how it feels about dogs."
-- Christopher Hampton

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's to all the moms out there. Particularly to my mother... miss you mom. Love D

Being a Health Teacher

You may or may not know that I am a health teacher and in my expertise the cement dome covering the huge u.s. oil spill seems more like a diaphragm and a lot less like a dome.

Trip to Greece

I haven't looked on the internet for any flights and this is totally a wild guess, but I bet you can get a good deal on a holiday resort in Greece.

I find these riots in Greece interesting. I bet there are many people who are rioting, are the same people who voted for those incompetent and corrupt officials. Many of the kids at school say that politics is boring and that it doesn't have anything to with them. Well in Australia, registered voters are required to vote or they are fined, which is exhibit number one as to why you should vote. Exhibit two is if you aren't actively engaged in the political process and allow politicians to do what they did in Greece they can have devastating results.

Just One Game

What I would do to just watch one play-off hockey game. How great it would have been to watch the Habs knock off the Capitals. If I remember correctly I believe it was Ovechkin, who during the World junior Hockey Championships, taunted the Canadian team as he scored an empty net goal. Now every time he loses it quietly makes me smile inside.

Had to turn the heat on for the first time... summer and fall are officially done. Here comes the winter.

I'm off for a week long walkabout with naughty kids in the Flinders Range next week. Looking forward to it, except for when it is Saturday and Sunday and I'm still working. We don't sleep with tents, but rather under the stars... cross your fingers and hope it doesn't rain.

I wish I could tell you something interesting, but Mount Gambier has dulled my mind. I no longer think for myself. The most interesting thought I had today was in regards to the Australian Fashion Week. Apparently, rather than reserving the front row for Fashion Magazine Editors and writters, they opened some spaces for bloggers. Not surprisingly a veteran fashion writer suggested that bloggers do not have the experience to comment on the clothing. It might just be me, but I'm pretty sure anyone can comment on clothing and justify what they are saying. Whilst still leave room for the writers to comment on whether things are good or bad and why that might be.

Things I Like This Week

My least enjoyable class has been rather pleasant as of late.

A friends 60th birthday, which should make for an enjoyable Friday evening

Things I Do Not Like

I saw someone hit another person in the head with a skateboard.

I'm questioning whether the majority of todays youth are able to think for themselves

Pre-Season Finale

The other team 4, us 0. Thank goodness the pre-season is over. I'm playing soccer with a group of 16-20-year-olds. The fail to understand that trying to be all fancy with the ball does not normally lead to victory. This is particularly the case when while being fancy, they fail to play defense.

I almost forgot

Guess who has tickets to the Powderfinger concert in September?? Go on, take a guess.

A few quick thoughts

Until recently I had completely forgotten how good shish kabobs were. The best part is when my parents made them, there was never enough. Now I can just make as many as I want... so good.

How the world would be a better place if everyone had 3 day weekends.

Went to a funeral of one of my baseball teammates this morning (Saturday morning). A very nice service, but certainly one of the last things you want to do to start off the weekend (or any other day for that matter).

Tomorrow is only the third soccer game of the year. We are still playing in the pre-season cup and already I've had enough soccer. This is not a good sign for the upcoming season.

Starting to look an awful lot like I'll be returning to the Great White North at the end of the year.

Oh the Frustration

Well its around 11P.M on the Monday evening of the Anzac Day long weekend. Spent primarily most of the weekend resting and relaxing around the house getting ready for what is to be a busy week at work. Today went for a 19Km run, did some cleaning, finished the book I was reading and went to bed early to start a new book. However, there has been a wrench thrown into the works, I can't sleep. This has been going on since about high school. As soon as Sunday night comes before the start of the week I struggle to sleep. Everyone says it is because I might be anxious for the upcoming week, but I'm not. I think its become a mental block that when I go to sleep before the start of a new week I fool myself into thinking I can't sleep.

Running has been going fairly well as of late, not great, but adequate. However, there is one small problem and I'm not sure there is much I can do about it. I am getting old, or at least my knees are reminding me that I am getting old. My first few strides of every run my left knee struggles to straighten and takes some time to have the proper hinge movement it is designed to have. At night after I have gone for a run and sometimes on nights I haven't I can feel the stiffness in them. I honestly do a decent job of taking care of myself and my body, but I'm starting to think that I may just have to start icing my knees when I get home.

Oh and for the record I am sitting here in sweatpants and a long sleeve shirt. This may not appear to be anything of consequence, but what it does mean is that summer is ending and winter is starting. The house is getting quite chilly at night and it is only a matter of time before having to turn on the single room heater designed to heat well one room, leaving the rest of the rooms in the house like an icebox.

Things I Like This Week

• It is Tuesday, which means it is one day closer to the weekend
• I have to stay late after school Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. One night for a meeting and two nights for parent teacher interviews. Oh wait this is to go in the following section
• The Blue Jays seem to have gotten off to a decent start this year and might not lose 100 games this year
• Roy Halladay is a very good pitcher

Things I Don't Like This Week

• See above

One Week Down

How I wish it didn't rain on my vacation, but sadly it has done nothing but rain. Regardless, I have manager to squeeze in 3 rounds of golf this week. it has been easy to go golfing as I am a brand new member at the local Blue Lake Golf Course. Yesterday I shot my course record oof 89, which included two birdies and a handful of pars.

Not much else has been going on for my first week of the holidays. First soccer game of the season is tomorrow and then I will be driving down to Adelaide (about a 5 hour drive) to catch up with friends from uni. and to do some sleeping bag shopping (please conain your excitment).

I wish the school breaks were 3 weeks instead of 2 weeks. I am not asking to add on an extra three weeks of vacation over the course of the year, but rather to cut the summer holidays in half and add the weeks to the mid year breaks. Two weeks in theory seems like a long time, but in reality you use the first week to wind down and the second week to start getting a set for school to get back into the swing of things. having that added middle week would truely add to a proper vacation.

Things I Like This Week

• Baseball season getting underway
• Going to watch the last two episodes on Mad Men
• Going to buy grade a sleeping bag

Things I don't Like This Week

• I have a feeling this sleeping bag is going to cost me $300

It Has Been Awhile

Hello everyone,

For those of you I caught up with over Christmas, I promised you that I’d do a better job of keeping in touch with you… well I lied, but that doesn’t mean I can start trying now.

Things are fine. The school year didn’t get off to a cracking start as I was under the impression I was going to be teaching P.E., but such is not the case. I was welcomed back to school with 3 Society and Environment classes, a Personal Learning Plan class and one grade 9 P.E. class. I’m pretty sure that my face was beat red with rage for the first week of school. The fact that most of the people I work with were continuously asking how I was doing only added to my rage. However, I’ve dealt with it and moved on. The first term has come and gone and it was pretty good I guess. I helped run the schools year 8 camps, went on an Outdoor Ed. Camp and also went with the schools Athletics Team down to Adelaide (I live in Mt. Gambier for those of you who are unsure). Those were all enjoyable and as for the rest of the term… it was fine and more importantly nobody got hurt in the process. I guess the only other point of interest for my first term is that irony reared its ugle head and the one P.E. class is the worst class that I’ve taught in my short and tenuous teaching career. Another good example of how you should be careful what you wish for.

As for my extracurricular activities, Baseball and Touch Footy seasons have both some to an unsuccessful end. Our baseball team had to amalgamate with another team because of a lack of players. The skill level of the guys we joined… not so good and to add insult to injury, most of them weren’t the type of people you wanted to spend your Saturday afternoons with. As for Touch Footy, well we had an okay season, but lost in the semi-finals.

Now up and coming is soccer season mixed with a heavy dose of running. We’ve lost quite a few players from our soccer club and I think we are going to stink, but hopefully we’ll have fun in the process. I’m hoping to run a half-marathon and two full marathons this year (this is being very wishful with soccer) and have started training hard over the last month or so. I’m running about 40-50Kms a week with my longest run being a 19km run. Running is looking good, but I’m going to need some luck to not get the banged up over the course of the soccer season.

I’m sure most of you know, but for those of you who don’t know Brad and Lisa got engaged. I am very, very happy for them despite the fact they or anyone else did not tell me and I found out via Facebook. Facebook is one of life’s great tragedies. Text messaging, Facebook and Tweeter have made it possible to pretty much not have to talk to anyone anymore.

As for what is on the horizon. Well I have the next two weeks off and will hang around Mount Gambier for most of it. Possibly a camping trip in the area and a trip to Adelaide to meet up with friends from University. Next term will be business as usual except for an 8 day hiking trip with about 10 of the naughty kids from school. The hike is about 100km up and down hills. It’s the equivalent of boot camp, but thankfully I enjoy hiking. Guess I need to decide whether or not I am going to apply for Permanent Residence, no idea what to do. I guess its easy to stay here and keep working , but the idea of moving back to Canada is very enticing.

Things I Like This week

Vacation
Writing a blog entry
My new John Butler CD

Things I Don’t Like This Week

Starting to feel an awful lot like winter

So yeah...

The funniest thing just happened....I read this article http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-sci-cows26-2008aug26,0,7995538.story
and decided to flip a coin 10 times... It landed on heads 7 times, so I assume the tail must be bottom heavy.

Congrats to the Gambier Centrals as they clinched their second Premiership in a row drawing with inter 2-2.

September can't come soon enough... I am plain sick of winter. Not that its cold, its just that I want it to be sunny and 25 out every day. This will be good for me, but most likely bad for you since that most likely means it will be cloudy and -25 where your from.

I truly have nothing of any substance to say. Mount Gambier doesn't offer a lot of talk. I managed to come up with the catchy phrase Mount Shitmore... this drew a chuckle. I'm really quite perplexed as to what I am going to do once December rolls around.

Things I Like This Week

• Don't have to spend too much time working on my visa application

Things I don't like this week

• Seems as though people feel the necessity to continue talking about Michael Phelps
• My space bar keeps sticking

Nothing terribly exciting

Well in case anyone is interested... I am officially two weeks away from being departed... I finally have all my teaching stuff settled, but now I need to get my visa application in ASAP. I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed participating in the visa application process... seriously.

Spent a couple days down in Adelaide to attend my graduation ceremony that Erin forced me to go to.... I know why I wasn't disappointed that I missed the U of M ceremony. However, it was nice to meet up with friends I hadn't caught up with in a bit.

Every dollar that Canada spends on their Summer Olympic athletes is a dollar wasted.

Greg's son Brayden will be celebrating his first birthday next week... Happy birthday.

Things I like this week

• Pretty pumped that the track and Field has started up and that the swimming is finally coming to a close.
• Visa application will be submitted now that I have completed blood test, urine sample and chest x-ray.

Things I don't like this week

• Quiz night as every question is Australian and I am clueless
• Erin going out of town... Mount Gambier might be a tad boring.

I scream, we scream, we all scream for ice cream

I may have told you this story before, but someone brought up the topic of ice cream makers today, so here it goes.

Last winter (your summer) a friend of Erin's had us over and a number of other local med students over for dinner. I was skittish about going because much of the company that was certain to be attending were pretentious assholes (as many med students are). However, Erin and I are good friends of the host (we'll call her Carmen since, well, that's her name) and felt an obligation to go.

As the evening went on it was exactly as expected. It was a group of 20 or so people, 10 of whom were med students who had very little in common with each other except for the common trait that 19 of the guests shared... that being they were med students. It came as no surprise that the conversation consisted of med school chat and med school chat only. This is often the case at these functions, but on most occasions there were one of two people who acquired the ability to talk about something else other than med school. however, on this night that wasn't the case.

As the night went on I tried to drink copious amounts of beer to dull that pain with little luck in hopes of getting through the treacherous evening. When dessert came it came to my surprise that a certain gentleman brought homemade ice cream. I thought to myself that's nice, put in 3-4 hours of work for something that could be bought for 5 bucks at the store, but hey who am I to complain?

There were two flavours the first being a fruity mixture and the second being a soy vanilla of some sort. The ice cream was okay, it was alright, but far from great. Of course being the pretentious group that it was everyone raved how great the ice cream was (I repeat it wasn't) and began showering the maker about various other ice creams that have been made and other like questions. It was then divulged that the ice cream maker came at a cost of a measly $800. I'll repeat that number in case it didn't set in... ice cream maker= $800.

Lets play a game, a numbers game. If you owned an ice cream maker at the cost of $800...

If the dinner was the first time ice cream had been made with said ice cream maker = $400 a pint.

Made ice cream every day for a year $2.19 a pint.

To make ice cream equal the same amount as what it costs in a store (we'll say $5 for arguments sake) you would have to make ice cream 160 times.

It should be pointed out that neither cost of ingredients or time has been taken into consideration for the cost of the ice cream, but I digress.

I guess the lesson in all this is that an $800 ice cream maker fails to guarantee you affordable ice cream or tasty ice cream. However, it does afford you undeserved compliments from a pompous group of people.

Things I like this week
The Mount Gambier Centrals Soccer Club plays Apollo Soccer Club this Sunday and can wrap up the Premiership.

Things I do not like this week
Applying for permanent residence is on par with cutting ones own arm off.

Guess who is back

Well here it goes…

Absence doesn’t make the heart grown fonder, it only makes it forget.


High school is a method of rewarding those who best conform to the way adults think they should.

Swearing is good in small doses, smoking is bad in any dose.

Video games don’t kill, guns do.

Millions of kids have played on playgrounds for decades... don't see what is wrong with them now.

There are people who deserve an open handed slap to the face. If you give one of those slaps you just got in line for one yourself. Truly a catch 22!!

I still can’t explain mitosis or meiosis after graduating from junior high, high school and 2 university degrees.

I don’t know if that is a reflection on me or them.

University graduation is anti-climatic.

Everyone should own a fountain pen.

Isn’t it weird how everyone always ask the same questions?

Less is more.

Listening is underrated, talking is overrated.

It takes both.

Interest rates and oil prices aren’t killing the economy. Smoking and obesity are.

People who wear sunglasses indoors
1) Your future isn’t that bright
2) You obviously are trying to hide something and I’m not referring to your eyes.

In sport each game is a separate entity, that’s why you play the game.

Cows and sheep are the only true vegetarians.

Cows and sheep put a new meaning to the phrase vested interest.

I’m Dan Mitchell I haven’t written in my blog for 7 months.

Britney Spears

I just read a headline that said "Britney not allowed to keep kids!" Is that really a headline or just hews outlet assuring us that the world hasn't quite gone to hell in a handbasket. They should get some psychologist to do a Longitudinal study on kids of messed up celebrities and how those kids turn out. They could include Britney Spears, the little guy ummm what is his name... Tom Cruise. I'm not going to sit her and list the different kids you could include because Ithink you get the point.

A few comments on some comments made by loyal readers... Dave the Cliff Claven comment was very funny and confirmation as to why I have been using the white socks to dust. Diane yes I do a lot of running (although not recently), but I have put the 1960's high top socks (similar to the ones my mother bought me) and the crotch hugger jogging shorts back in my fathers drawer in Winnipeg.

Another observation... for all the talk of David Beckham and in the media did youk now that I have only once seen photos of his kids and his relationship with his wife appears to be stable aka they have good nannies, but maybe those kids could also be included in the study. Beckham seems the most normal of the bunch and the most likely to have normal kids.

You know I really want to follow up the Christmas Invitation entry with something as funny, but there isn't really anything funny to talk about. I had a really good time. I was expecting to be there for 3 or 4 hours... I didn't end up leaving until about 9 pm. I'm sure I oveerstayed my welcome and yes i had troo much to drink, but Lisa's family was great. Her husband and sons were terrific compnay and it made for a very enjoyable Christmas Day.

I seem to have a new vigor for writing in the blog. I wil lcontinue this throughout the New Year. However, I will be in New Zealand for a few weeks so I won't post until mid January most likely. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.

Love,
D

Here is the details for my Christmas lunch with my interpretations in red

This is the e-mail sent to me about the Christmas lunch I will be attending... the coles notes verion is in red

Hi Danny,

I'm fine, and I have a wonderful time moaning about the humid weather.
(I'm fine, but I haven't finished my Christmas shopping, I have to get prepared to cook a dinner for you, my family and all your lazy asses and its 40 fricking degrees outside and I have boob sweat)
Details: we have a traditional vaguely mixed English and Australian Christmas lunch. This year we'll be having roast pork, roast lamb and a cold ham, with traditional apple sauce, gravies, roast veggies etc. We also do a brandy plum pudding with custard, fruit mince pies etc and a side dessert of something else for the non pudding eaters (eg my sons aren't big on it).
(We eat like Kings, I cook like a slave and yet my sons still can't manage to choke back the damn pudding that my needy Husband and mother insists on)
Let me know if any of this is a dietary problem , no probs if it is...can always do something additional for you.
(Your bandwagoning sorry ass better like whatever it is I decide to make)
As good Aussies, we are also red and white wine (and the men are also beer drinkers. We also ensure there are plenty of non alcoholic drinks around for eg me during the cooking!
(The only way you, me, my family gets through this most aggravating time is to get drunk as skunks, so you better bring some because I'm not sharing any of my magic potion)
Best time to arrive is 12.30. We tend to get straight into pre lunch drinks and nibbles and gift unwrapping immediately before Jasmine explodes with anticipation.
(By 10am I will have needed a strong drink... by 12:30 I won't be able to wait any longer and we all need to eat something to have a good balance of booze to food ratio in the belly to avoid barfing at 4am when I most likely will still be drinking)

Then lunch inside in the dining room (squeezy with so many of us, but adds to the fun) then outside in the garden for the afternoon, weather permitting. If it's hot Jasmine tends to squirt everyone with water pistols..which actually isn't too bad if its over 30 degrees!
(Because of you we are going to have to sit on each other laps... why is it I invited your sorry ass again? Regardless of temperature we are going to have to sit outside because there isn't enough room with you being there and there is a strong possibility you will get splashed in the face with a water pistol. I suppose this could be one reason why I invited you as the extra person means that there will be less squirts directed at me this year and we will all avoid the wet t-shirt incident we encountered last Christmas. P.s. hopefully this year the water pistol won't be filled with pee like it was in 05... here is to hoping!!)
Family info for you.
My husband Malcolm is a skinny Englishman, still has a strong accent despite claiming not to do so..took me a year to understand some of what he said (smile).
( He is a midget and he is sensitive about it, so no jokes. When he drinks there is no chance you will have any idea what he is saying, but this is most likely for the better, so cheers to that)

My sons are Willis, a bureaucrat come to think of it, in Melbourne; plays club cricket, volley ball (?) golf, used to play Aussie rules football and rugby and American football in his teens .
(Bureaucrat... so you he is going to ask you about your politics and religion within the first 10 minutes of meeting you.. you better bring your a-game... if you are getting killed trying changing the topic to the following sports)

Duncan, Jasmine's Dad, plays club tennis, plays acoustic guitar, Jasmine does gymnastics. (is scarily good at it). (It's a possibility that Duncan's partner Tamara and her 6 yr old daughter Jade will also be here. depends on how she can fit in both families. )
(Duncan will be so busy trying to keep Jasmine under control you won't have to worry about him)

My youngest son Jon (aged 28) still hasn't a clue about what do with his life, like many youngest sons apparently (smile). He began a BA at Flinders, dropped out, likes films and computers and is a really gentle guy...
(Where have a heard this story before minus the gentle part?)
And my Mum, Lena is a wonderful woman, who is very lucid at 85, but has recently lost a lot of her eyesight due to macular degeneration..but she doesn't let that stop her!
(A saucy lady who will indulge in a medicinal drink by about 8am can't see a thing, but she will be stripping by 2pm regardless.... nothing has stopped her including the depression and WW2)

Hmmm, if you want to bring anything a bottle of wine is always welcome...but if you don't drink, anything is fine.
(You better bring a bottle of wine, even if you don't drink and for your sake you better.. .you should still bring a bottle... its like Church when they pass around the plate for collection.. you know its a ripoff, but you don't want anyone to think you are mooching!!)
Do you drive or cycle?
(As I have hinted throughout this e-mail... the only chance of someone surviving this ordeal is to drink copious amounts of booze, so you should most likely drive unless you plan on driving home with your eyes closed and I can't really condone such actions)

The only thing I want for Christmas is my two front teeth

The only thing I wanted for this very low key Christmas was to watch the Jamie Oliver Christmas Special.... it was on at 7:30.... its now 10... I missed in... damn it....